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While taking care of our body is an extremely important job and most of us do realise that, one thing that many of us seem to overlook is the fact that the importance of mental health is no less than physical health. The different problems that were are currently facing with regard to mental health nowadays are quite staggering and the number of people who are falling victim to the wide range of mental illnesses is starting to cause serious problems in the society too. With problems that are as small and regular as stress and as serious as schizophrenia affecting people all around us, it is important that we aware ourselves of the things that cause it and more importantly, what is being done to prevent it. Keeping in touch with the way the mental health services are being developed is important to not only know what the field of medicine has achieved but also to see what potential problems we may be facing. This article will be covering some of the most important current news with regard to mental health so keep reading to find out more.

Reduction in mental health services for children in UK

The psychologists all over the UK are starting to show concern regarding the attitude that the health services industry has taken in the recent time regarding the mental health of adolescents and children. According to a recent survey, people are reporting serious downfalls in both the quality and the extent of the service that is made available to them by their health services. The biggest problem that has been reported is the acceptance criteria of the different health services as 71% of the people surveyed said that their service had tightened their criteria of selection. More than half of the people in the survey were also showing concerns about the quality of service they were getting, especially in the case of children who required intensive care. There were several other problems too including no after-hours services for nearly half of the participants of the survey and an absence of certain treatments for half the participants in the last three years. The concern is quite serious and there is a strong need to bring improvements in the quality of services being provided for maintaining mental health.

Suicide and its relation with unemployment

Unemployment is a problem that has been strongly related to a deteriorating mental health and in a recent study conducted by a team from the University of Zurich it has been found that unemployment is the cause of more than 45000 suicides worldwide every year. The data was derived from the mortality database of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and also from the Economic Outlook Database of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The research spanned over four different regions of the world and covered suicides reported from 63 countries. According to the research, the rates have increase significantly in the recent years with an overall increase of 20-30% between 2000 and 2011. What is more alarming is the fact that these statistics make unemployment far deadlier than any problems that one may have faced due to economic crisis. What is truly troubling though is that researchers say that this is just the tip of the iceberg and the overall impact of a lack of economic well-being on mental health is much greater.

Lack of mental health care for prisoners

In a recent research conducted in the University of Texas at Dallas by Dr. Nadine Connell, who is a professor of criminology, it has been found that the mental health care for the prisoners has been deteriorating quite seriously in the recent times. The number of inmates who were suffering from different mental illnesses is quite large and a staggering 25% of all inmates have been diagnosed with a mental illness at some point in their life. With only a 10th of the mentally ill inmates receiving proper medication for their problems, the results were quite clear in showing how little was being done to ensure the mental well-being of the inmates. A major reason this lack of proper care is the tight budget that every prison has and the study focuses on the importance of providing proper facilities. Dr. Nadine has clearly stated that providing proper services can not only help in reducing the chances of recidivism but will also as a result ensure a safer and healthier society, both in and outside the prison.

Keeping informed with the latest developments in the field of medicine and the health industry is extremely important. Not only does it mean that we are serious about taking good care of our health, it is also important if we want to make sure that we do not end up catching a disease that may be recently discovered. Some of the news shared here is of the same exact nature and it is also the reason why we should keep ourselves updated at often as possible. To find out about the recent developments in the health sector, read on.

New Aggressive HIV Strain

In a recent study, scientists have found a new strain of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus or HIV in Cuba and it is believed to be extremely aggressive. The scientists have said that the virus is capable of spreading so fast that it can already form symptoms of HIV before the person who has contracted it even knows about it. The formation of this new strain is said to have been caused when a person has unprotected sex with several infected partners and as a result of this the virus develops within the person and forms the new aggressive strain. According to the research, the result of getting infected with this aggressive strain is that the person has a lot less number of healthy years as compared to a normal HIV infected patient and the amount of virus infection found in the people infected with this strain is also very huge. The need to get tested has now become all the more important and scientists have declared that the people who are used to having unprotected sex with multiple partners should get themselves tested immediately in order to avoid any complications in the future.

Black market for blood in China amid a shortage of healthcare

In the recent times, China has seen a very large increase in their requirement for healthcare and a shortage of blood in the market has led to the formation and growth of a black market for blood. The fact that it is an extremely important commodity in the health sector means that there is no way of stopping people from buying blood off the black market and this can lead to problems that are harmful to both the economy and the health sector. However, the doctors themselves are now saying that since there isn’t enough blood to supply to patients using traditional means, the fact that the patients are buying blood themselves is actually very helpful for them. In addition to this the multiple scandals that have been surrounding the different health organisations like the Red Cross in China have also been worsening the situation. With a loss of credibility and several incidents of unhygienic and unethical practices surfacing, it is becoming more and more difficult for the authorities to control this growth of this new black market. The question now is that whether or not the black market will do any good for the healthcare industry and if the problem will be solved before the country falls into a healthcare crisis.

New device research to help deaf children in hearing

Angelica Lopez is a 3 year old child who is helping in the recent breakthrough that scientists have made in helping deaf children gain the power of hearing. Having undergone a brain surgery, Lopez has an implant in her brain which bypasses the part of her ear where the wiring is missing. The tests have shown her hearing sounds for the first time and mimicking them using this technology called an ABI or auditory brainstem implant. The device was approved 15 years ago by FDA and after years of development, this proper testing has shown that the implant certainly has the potential to work. However, the technology is still limited and the amount of complexity involved in training the child is immense, meaning that a lot of work needs to be done still before it can be declared a success. One major concern here is also the fact that it is very delicate surgery and involves going into the deeper parts of the brain. The safety of performing such procedures on children and the potential hazards involved in it have also been pointed out by the researchers of University of South California (Los Angeles) who are performing the study. Whatever the case, the development is certainly an amazing breakthrough and if it can be made safe, it is definitely worth the effort and sacrifice.

To find out more about recent developments in the health sector, you can visit this link.

Obesity is in essence the abnormal accumulation of fat in the body and it shouldn’t be too hard to understand that anything abnormal in the body is a danger to it. It is very crucial to understand this issue properly if we are to combat it with successful results. In order to help you with that, we have decided to provide you with a comprehensive outlook on obesity so that you can plan your fight against it in a better and more effective manner.

Understanding obesity and its causes

Obesity is basically the accumulation of excessive amount of fats in the body which lead to a person gaining an abnormal amount of weight. It is actually considered to be a disorder and that alone should give an idea about its seriousness. While most people may think of it as a cosmetic problem, the health risks related to obesity are actually very serious.

There are a number of different reasons that can lead to an onslaught of obesity and each and every one of them needs to be tackled differently since all of them have different parameters. The reasons that lead to a person becoming overweight or obese include the following.

Sedentary lifestyle: Being a couch potato it seems is becoming the biggest reason of all in the occurrence of obesity. With so much ease provided to us in our daily lives by technology, we have become used to not moving around as much as we once used to and that has led to a piling up of the calories we consume, the level of which has obviously not gone down.

Pregnancy: It is a very common thing to see women who are pregnant gaining weight. This is actually necessary too since the extra food consumption is what is required to keep the fetus healthy. However, once they have given birth, most women find it very difficult to lose the weight that they have gained and that leads to obesity.

Medical reasons: There are several medical conditions that upset the body’s energy balance and while a person may have had a good healthy lifestyle, the disease can take all that away and bring about a sudden gain in weight. This can lead to a proper development of obesity in those people and both men and women are equally vulnerable to this problem.

Unhealthy eating: This is one of the most common known reasons for obesity now, especially in the first world countries. With food chains providing foods that are rich in bad calories and have very little nutrients, the ultimate result is an excessive amount of consumption and eventually, the onslaught of obesity.

The above reasons can also provide us with an idea of the type of people who are at a risk of becoming obese. If you have an inactive lifestyle, bad eating habits or other medical reasons, you are very much at the risk of becoming obese.

Health problems

Obesity can lead to several very serious problems if not tended to properly and on time. As far as the physical deterioration is concerned, since obesity is usually coupled with inactivity, it leads to deterioration in muscles which can be very problematic when you need to perform strenuous activities. Also the weight gain is in itself a very serious troublemaker since it can put a lot of stress on the bones, causing them to become weak. Last but not the least, the excessive fat that is being consumed leads to an abnormal amount of cholesterol precipitation in the blood vessels and that can lead to blockages and serious heart diseases too. Problems as serious and sometimes fatal as pulmonary embolism have been associated with cholesterol accumulation in the blood vessels that is caused by obesity.

Treating obesity

In simple words, the process required to control obesity has to be the complete opposite of the things that actually led to its development in the first place. To reverse inactivity, one has to change their lifestyle, stop being a couch potato and start exercising on a daily basis. The food consumption needs to be controlled and all the junk food needs to be replaced by fresh and healthy food. In addition to that the composition of the diet also has to be right, meaning that the right amount of proteins, fats and carbohydrates should be consumed daily. As for those who have medical reasons, they must contact their physician immediately and discuss the problem to find a suitable cure.

If you are interested in further exploration on the topic, here is a link for UK government policies regarding the issue.

Although there are all kinds of things, both natural and artificial that people do nowadays to achieve the perfect body and health, there is one particular activity that has been tested and proven its worth for many years without failing. This activity is exercise and the benefits and importance it carries are simply endless. Understanding why we need to exercise and then implementing it into our lifestyles is one of the most important goals of life and to help you with that, this article will describe all the crucial things you need to know.

Sedentary lifestyles

To understand the importance of exercise, we must focus on the problem that it is a solution to. With the advancements in technology, we have been provided with solutions to so many tasks that we would otherwise have to perform physically. While being physically involved on a daily basis we automatically kept our bodies active and strong, the lack of those opportunities has led to a sedentary lifestyle that is eroding our bodies in several ways. Therefore it is important that we realise why exercise is an important part of our life and what benefits it carries.

Benefits to health

Just like a whetstone is used to keep a blade sharp, exercise plays the most vital role in making sure that our body also remains at its optimum performance level. We move around and do even the smallest tasks using our muscles and it is exercise that keeps these muscles fully toned and ready to perform all kinds of tasks. If you do not sharpen a blade, it would start to get blunt and soon it would become useless. Similarly, if you do not use your muscles properly and spend your time relaxing all the time, you body will start to deteriorate and then when you will really need to perform physically, you won’t be able to do so. But this is just the core of the whole idea and the overall benefits that exercise has on our health are simply endless. Our bodies are not just strengthened physically but also mentally and when the two come together, we can not only fight off physical damage to our body but also be strong in resisting against chemical impacts like diseases.

Types of exercise and routine

Although exercise is very crucial to a healthy lifestyle, the simple rule of thumb that applies here like all other places is that excess of everything is bad. We should do exercise but only as much as we can afford to. No one is born with a body that can take endless endurance and it is only through time that we grow stronger. For all of you who are at the beginning stage of developing a daily exercise routine, you are advised to perform mild aerobic exercise like running or different warming up and stretching exercises. Taking on too much pressure can lead to muscular and other physical damage which is something you really don’t want.

Scientific evidence

Over the years, scientists have indulged themselves in countless tests to prove the fact that having an active body is much more important than we realise. The differences in terms of endurance, performance level and stamina that have been derived from countless researches show differences that are clear as day. Even if we look around, we can easily compare a person who has a sedentary lifestyle to one who has an active body and see how different the two really are. Presenting statistics would be pointless for something that is so clearly understandable but if you still want proof, you can find it anywhere.

Improved stamina

Regular exercise leads to the development of stamina, something which can prove to be extremely crucial when you find yourself in a difficult situation. Having the strength to endure adverse environments for prolonged periods of time is very important for living long and healthy and if we look at the bigger picture, this is what the whole concept of natural selection and survival of the fittest is all about too.

Increased strength

We are often faced with situations where our physical strength is tested and if we are not properly trained to endure that strain then it could lead to a lot of problems too. But the simple fact is that a healthy body is not only useful, it is also very attractive and when it comes to social acceptance, we can clearly see that strong people are given more attention than those who are weak and unhealthy.

To find out what the Chief Medical Officer of the UK thinks about general physical activity requirements, you can visit this link.